


The Woman at the Gate

by Medie



Category: The Losers (2010), X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Crossover, Female Character of Color, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-29
Updated: 2012-01-29
Packaged: 2017-10-30 06:58:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/329021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Medie/pseuds/Medie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Her father is scary to some (even to Aisha, though she will never, ever say) but not this woman.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Woman at the Gate

**Author's Note:**

  * For [saekhwa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/saekhwa/gifts).



A woman comes to the house at dawn. The very earliest of light is just peeking its way across the forest. The sound of the dogs barking behind their fences is what alerts the young Aisha to their guest. Rolling to her knees, the little girl scrambles to the window and peers out to look at the yard below. 

The jeep is an old one, utilitarian, nothing special, but the woman who gets out is neither of these things. She's beautiful and tiny, but that's not what makes Aisha's eyes widen with awe. 

No, the delicate, shining wings that unfurl from her shoulders takes credit for that. They glisten in the early morning light, shimmering with rainbows, and Aisha is entranced. The wings beat once in a lazy arc that stirs the woman's dark hair and then still. 

She knows what (if not who) the woman is. She's young, but not foolish. There are no faeries, no magical godmothers, but if there were, Aisha imagines they might look like this woman.

Her childish imaginings are interrupted by the sound of booted feet on the steps below. Her father's bodyguards file out before him on full alert. They all tower over the woman, all easily dwarfing her in size, but they're the ones giving her wary looks while she smiles with amusement.

She's enjoying this. Without any fear, she removes the black leather gloves she's wearing. The gloves are left on the hood of the jeep as she raises her bare hands and turns in a slow circle.

The wings give another beat, quick and hard this time, and more than one of the men tighten their grip on their guns. 

The woman laughs at that, mocking, and Aisha claps a hand over her mouth to stop a giggle of her own. She doesn't lower it until she stops giggling, wary of being overheard, and considers it a wise move as her father walks out of the house a moment later. 

Her father is scary to some (even to Aisha, though she will never, ever say) but not this woman. 

She just tips her head back, smirks, and says something low that Aisha cannot hear. Her father replies, but does not offer his hand or move any closer to the woman than he already is.

Aisha's eyes widen at the realization that her father is as wary of his guest as his guards are. She watches him deal with his guest, his men bringing out merchandise for her inspection, and can't miss the way he keeps his distance and never ever turns his back. 

He is not afraid, perhaps, but he is careful. Respectful. This is not a woman her father will cross and Aisha is entranced. She stays where she is for the entire meeting. The sun has risen over the trees by the time the crates are loaded into the woman's jeep and she passes over a case for payment. 

That part is no different than the other times people have come to the house, but never once does it seem that her father invites his guest inside and that is different. Her father is a powerful man with many connections and the people who seek him out often wish access to those connections as they do to the merchandise he has to sell. She has watched these meetings and deals play out over hours, even days, never this quickly. 

Still, the woman never once glances toward the house and, after a while, her wings settle to her body, curling about her shoulders and vanishing against her skin. When they have, she nods once at Aisha's father and gets back into the jeep. 

Her father doesn't even look at the case. He passes it off to one of his bodyguards and walks back into the house.

Three days later there's an explosion in the city. It's years before Aisha connects the two when she hears rumors about an American lab and mutant experimentation. It's years more before she comes face to face with the woman from that day.

Few of the years between them show on her face, mutant physiology giving her away, and the faint lines of a 'tattoo' tell the story of how she hides her wings. Aisha remembers the disappointment when they'd folded to her skin and vanished. She doesn't wish they'd unfurl now and shine the way they had that morning. Such things are beyond her now. 

The woman looks at her, recognition in her gaze, and smiles. "You have your father's eyes."

"You remember."

"A little face in the window? You're hard to forget." The woman smiles. Aisha knows her name now, just like she knows each and every mutant in this facility is a survivor of that lab or one just like it. "You have quite the talent for surveillance. Most humans wouldn't have made it past the front gate." 

Aisha looks at the compound and the mutants working on it. "Did he know what you were going to do?"

"I'm sure he suspected," Angel says. Her wings lift from her skin, moving with an agitation her face will never betray, and Aisha lets herself watch them as Angel walks away. "He had no interests with the Americans so it wasn't a concern. I take it that changed?"

"It did."

"Pity."

Aisha thinks of those children and then of Max. She also remembers the way her father had looked at Angel. 

"The man that killed him—" 

"Max."

"You've heard of him?"

Angel laughs softly. "He doesn't make any attempt at hiding."

"I'm going to kill him," Aisha says. "But he's difficult to reach." 

Angel turns away, her wings shining in the orange light of the setting sun. She picks up her phone from her desk and looks back at Aisha with a small, cold smile. "I think we can do something about that."


End file.
